His first necessity was a horse. This it was important he should obtain at once, directly after he had procured a room and a meal. Yet, he thought, there should be no difficulty in that. The French, who never neglected the art of possessing themselves of the spoils of war, were reported to have laid all the country round under such contributions of food, cattle, forage, and other things, that he had read in the _Flying Post_ ere he left London how, in spite of their large armies scattered over Flanders, they were now selling back at very small prices the things they had plundered. "But first for an inn," said Bevill Bracton (the _soi-disant_ M. de Belleville) to himself. Directing his steps, therefore, across the wide _place_ and towards a deep archway, over which was announced the name of an inn, he entered the house and stated that he wanted a room for the night. "A room?" the surly Dutch landlord repeated, looking up as he heard himself addressed in the French language--doubtless he had good reason to be surly! "A room? Two dollars a night, payable in advance." "'Tis very well. You do not refuse French money?" "No, 'specially as we see little enough of it. Hans," addressing a boy in the courtyard after he had received the equivalent of two dollars, "show the French gentleman to No. 89. All food and wine," he added, "is also payable in advance." "That can also be accomplished. Likewise the price of a horse, if I can purchase one." "_Ja, ja!_ Very well!" the man said, brisking up at this. "If monsieur desires a horse, and will pay for it, I have many from which he may choose." "So be it; when I descend I will inspect them. Now," to the boy, "show me to the room." Arrived at No. 89, which, like all Dutch rooms, was scrupulously clean if bare of aught but the most necessary furniture, Bevill, after having made some sort of toilette, and one which would have to suffice until he had bought a haversack and some brushes and other necessaries, was ready for his meal. He went downstairs now to where the surly Dutch landlord still sat in his little bureau, and asked him if the horses were ready for inspection. Receiving, however, the information that two or three had been sent for from some stables that were in another street, he decided to proceed to the long, low room where repasts were partaken of. Before he did so, however, the landlord told him that it was necessary to inscribe his name and calling in a register that was kept of all guests staying at the inn. Knowing this to be an invariable custom, as it had always been for many long years--for centuries, indeed--on the Continent, Bevill made no demur, but, taking a pen, he dipped it in the inkhorn and wrote down, "André de Belleville, Français, Secrétaire d'Embassade récemment à Londres," since thus ran the passport which had been procured for him by Lord Peterborough.